ACADEMY ADMISSIONS: YOUR CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

With Academy admissions, your district could be your destiny. If you live near Fort Bragg, NC, then it could be very competitive to get a West Point appointment, given the amount of Army children likely to apply. However, if you live in the middle of Nebraska, where there are no military bases, in a blue collar area, then there are likely few Academy applicants. It’s an inequitable process, but that’s the reality of it.

Academies will offer an appointment to one qualified candidate per Congressional district. In order to win an appointment, the most likely scenario is to “win your district” – to be ranked as the #1 candidate in your district.

Two factors dictate how competitive your district is:

1) the amount of military members/veterans in your district.

2) the socioeconomic level of your district – the higher the socioeconomic area, the greater the likelihood of high performing schools comprised of competitive students.

We call this a “hack” because if you know that the Academy is your dream, then be aware how competitive your district is, and take action accordingly. If you know in advance that you are in a hyper competitive area (i.e. DC area, large military town, etc.), then you’ll need to be that much more competitive than the average admit in order to win.